Background Studies

State law requires background studies for certain people who provide direct contact services or have access to vulnerable adults and children. The background study determines whether a person has a disqualifying characteristic which prevents the person from working with children or living in the home of a provider. The background study process is changing to meet the federal requirements of the 2014 Child Care and Development Block Grant.

Enhanced studies for licensed family child care programs are available beginning January 1, 2019 for new providers and new household members or employees. Enhanced background studies for licensed family child care providers will be implemented in a phased manner that will not be tied to a licensing renewal date. This means for existing providers with license renewals on or after January 1, 2019, county licensing agencies will relicense providers without conducting background studies. By the end of 2020, all licensed family child care providers and those affiliated with their license will need to have obtained an enhanced study through NETStudy 2.0. Federal and state law require a new enhanced child care study every five years. Minors who have a name and date of birth study will need an enhanced study when they turn 18.

What is included in an enhanced child care background study?

​​The background study will include a review of information from the following databases:​1. A name-based search of Minnesota's predatory offender registry​2. A name-based search of Minnesota's child abuse and neglect registry​3. A name-based out-of-state system search of the child abuse and neglect registry for every state where that individual resided during the past five years​4. Minnesota Court Information System​5. Minnesota Maltreatment Information​​Any individual over the age of 18 or a minor (ages 13-17) who is an employee, contractor, someone who supervises children in care, or who have lived outside of Minnesota anytime in the last five years will have a background study that also includes:​- A fingerprint search of criminal history records held by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA)​- A fingerprint search of FBI criminal history records​​A minor (ages 13-17) who does not meet one of the criteria above will have a background study that includes the following elements in addition to items 1-5 above:​- A name-based search of criminal history records held by the BCA​- If there is a reasonable cause, as defined in state law, a fingerprint-based state and federal criminal history check

What is the cost of the new enhanced background studies?

​​The federal Office of Child Care has informed states that they are able to use certain child care block grant funds to help providers pay for the new enhanced background studies.​​DHS will pay for the cost of the new background studies for existing providers and their staff/family members who already have a current background study:​- If a family child care provider hires new staff or has a new household member after the roll out date of the enhanced studies, those individuals will need to cover the background study cost​- If a family child care provider has a minor who only had a name and date of birth study turn 18 years old, that person will need to cover the cost of the background study​​The cost for those who will be required to pay for the study:​Adults: $40.00 for the study and $9.10 for the fingerprinting fee​Minors: The cost of the name and date of birth study will be $20.00​​For most people, the new enhanced background study will be good for five years before they have to be repeated and the DHS one-time funding will not cover the cost of the next study.